


the normality of the not normality

by atannatek



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Crush, Clueless Jae, College, Fluff and Humor, M/M, overuse of the 'i am normal' quote, wonpil is a mess and he doesn't think too much what he says
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atannatek/pseuds/atannatek
Summary: jae is tired of forgetting his keys and having to wait for hours until sungjin comes back from seeing his boyfriend to get into his dorm. fortunately, he’s not the only person who seems to have a problem with dorm’s keys lately.(actually, not fortunately at all).
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Sungjin, Kim Wonpil/Park Jaehyung | Jae
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	the normality of the not normality

**Author's Note:**

> ignore the fact that the age of the members is a mess please.  
> also i don't even know how i came with this but i hope someone likes it as i really enjoyed having some time to write now that i'm back at the uni!
> 
> -you can check my twitter ([@dowoonbubbles](https://twitter.com/dowoonbubbles)) to find other day6's threadfics aus and even social media!

Jae promises he’s trying.

He promises he _really_ is trying—he even bought one of those chains to have his keys with him hanging around his neck all the time following the principle that normal people never lose their head. And it could be said that Jae is pretty much normal. Plainly normal. Brutally normal. Horribly normal—have you seen _his clothes_? _And his hair? His glasses?_ Jae just looks like another face in the crowd, except maybe for the fact that he’s taller than the average, but that’s easily fixed considering his bad posture.

So because of it —because Jae is _normal_ and _normal people_ don’t tend to lose their head in a daily basis—, he should have his keys with him right now to get into his dorm after a long afternoon of studying at the library and with the wish to satisfy the mortal wish of falling asleep as soon as he reaches his bed—and no, he isn’t considering changing his clothes. Definitely no. Neither taking a shower. He isn’t going to risk the perfect amount of tiredness that he has gathered through the day and suddenly recover his energy just because he decided to take a quick shower—nope. Never. Jae wants to sleep so he’s going to sleep as soon as he has the chance of doing it…

Which he actually doesn’t. 

Because maybe Jae is pretty much normal —plainly normal, brutally normal, horribly normal—, but even with that, he really managed to fuck up the perfect number of hours he could have gotten of sleep.

And with that he means forgetting his keys inside his dorm. _Again_.

‘Again’ as in a sense of _you’ve-done-this-almost-every-day-since-you-moved-here-four-weeks-ago-what’s-wrong-with-you-?????_

Luckily, there aren’t lots of things wrong with Jae like to add to the list—he is absolutely so, so normal. Average grades, average looks, average level of social skills, average… Basically _everything_. Plainly normal. Brutally normal. Normally normal.

Except that he keeps forgetting his keys and getting himself in similar scenarios to the current one—he, sitting awkwardly next to his dorm’s door waiting for his roommate to come back from one of those multiples dates he has with his boyfriend because, and Jae strictly quotes because _ew_ , he’s never ever thinking something like this: “they miss each other a lot now that Sungjin is on college and Younghyun’s still in his last year of high school and they need to kiss and hug _a lot_ to recompensate that first a lot!”.

 _Ew_.

Sungjin usually comes back from his dates around ten.

Jae checks the time in his phone. Nine and five minutes.

He has to wait fifty-five minutes then and has a poorly thirteen percent of battery to survive with. _Fifty-five_ —fifty-five is a nice number, right? Not like thirteen. Fifty-five has two fives together. Two identical numbers standing next to the other and not being tired like Jae is.

Jae checks his phone again. Still fifty-five minutes missing, which is fine. 

Then he checks his phone a third time and nothing has changed.

Jae is starting to hate the number fifty-five.

“It won’t happen if you keep staring.”

Jae is a normal human being; the most average one between average, which means that when he’s far too invested in internally complaining about a damn number and suddenly a person decides to talk to him —a person that he didn’t even notice when he got there, by the way _._ Is he really that tired then like to not see someone approaching him…? —, he startles and of course he drops his phone in the process.

The guy, standing next to the door in the dorm in front Jae’s, raises a brow in his direction.

“Well, that won’t make any difference either” he says, glancing at Jae’s phone near his feet now. Jae looks from it to the guy’s face, and then from the guy’s face to a more specific spot like his eyes (they’re _so_ bright) and back to his phone, and then the guy’s face, and his eyes, and his phone, and his face…

“You’re doing it again” says the stranger. He’s also frowning once more and Jae is very much aware of that considering that he’s looking directly to him, probably with more enthusiasm than the needed as that’s the first time they've ever seen each other, “You’re staring.”

And now he’s blushing— _Jae’s_ doing it. Not the guy with the oh-so-bright eyes. Why would he even be the one blushing when Jae’s the person who’s been caught paying a little bit too much attention to his face?

“I wasn’t staring before” Jae clarifies, doing his best to pretend he’s not impressed and intimidated at the same time. Not that it really helps him, cause the guy is still frowning and Jae, as the normal person he is, is still blushing.

The guy purses his lips together in a grimace, wrinkling his nose in the process. It makes him look like an annoyed bunny, and something tells Jae he shouldn’t be the first person to think that because the comparison is so obvious to make.

“I know you weren’t, sorry” he says after some seconds. Then, surprisingly, he imitates Jae’s posture and he’s sitting crossed leg in the hall too, only that he’s next to the door of Jae’s dorm neighbor. If Jae isn’t wrong, that’s the room of one of those genius boys who get earlier to the university because of their grades. It’s been only three weeks since classes started, after all—not that Jae is already friends with everyone around, so he can’t exactly be sure of it. “I shouldn’t have talked to you like that at all.”

Jae nods. And as the normal, emphatic human being he is, he asks: “Bad day?”

The guy rolls his eyes, “The worst.”

Jae feels the need to point out that he can’t exactly use ‘ _the worst’_ to describe a day taking into account that he hasn’t lived all the days of his life yet. He opens his mouth to say it out loud and the guy’s bright eyes are over him for an instant, expecting to listen to something. Jae simply closes his mouth when he understands that would be a silly thing to say. It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that the guy was looking at him—of course it _does not_. Jae doesn’t even know the guy’s name. Why would he even be that affected by someone who he doesn’t even know the name of?

“My dorm is flooded because of a problem with the pipelines” the guy adds after a moment. Jae nods again, as saying “ _ugh, that sucks. I’m sorry…?”._ Guy sighs, and Jae doesn’t get why, but he has to control the impulse of beaming because the guy is wrinkling his nose again and he definitely looks like an annoyed bunny. “I’m staying with my friend because of that” he continues, “He gave me a copy of his key because we have different class schedules and he was working later today, but I lost it somewhere and now I’m trapped here.”

Jae feels the need to point out that maybe the correct term won’t be trapped as they’re outside each other’s dorms and not inside of a specific place except for the building itself—

The guy’s wrinkling his nose again. Jae forgets about what he was thinking almost immediately.

“What about you?” he asks him.

Jae doesn’t know why he answers so fast: “I also forgot my keys.”

There’s a chuckle then—a _chuckle_. Jae feels the need to point out that he shouldn’t be laughing considering their situations, but the guy is chuckling and Jae, as normal as he is, finds himself too distracted by the gesture like to even think on anything else except for _“What the fuck? I said I_ also _did it, meaning that I tried to compare my situation with his, but I forgot my keys and he lost his. Oh_ shit _, he must think I’m an idiot…”_

“When is your roommate coming back?” the guy says between his chuckles. He abruptly stops in the middle of one, confusing Jae for the abrupt change, “Because you do have a roommate, right?”

“He’s on a date” Jae nods. A fast nod, a fast answer.

“Sweet” the guy smiles now.

Why is his smile even that... Bubbly? _How?_

And why is Jae even thinking on that?

“I think Dowoon hasn’t gone to a date in years” the guy speaks again. Jae has come to the realization that he must be a chatty person either in a general term or when he’s in troubles and bored like now, “My friend” he says, probably noticing Jae’s frown (the one that wasn’t related at all to the name he mentioned but to the question if the guy is in a fact a chatty person with everyone or maybe just with Jae because he pities him). “I imagine you don’t know each other” the stranger continues, “He would’ve told me something about being friends with the cute guy living in front of him.”

Jae swallows. Did he just call him cute?

He’s blushing and coughing and definitely using his backpack to try to hide his reaction. A very fast reaction.

“Are you okay?” the guy asks. Jae isn’t looking at him directly, yet he can say he’s smiling. Oh fuck. Why is he smiling this time? Why is he even smiling in a first place? Why do people even smile for? Jae, being the normal person he is, smiles for the basic things: listening to a song from his favorite band or watching a movie he likes, petting a dog, when he ends up paying less than what he expected on the store…

But the guy isn’t either listening to any song or watching a movie in that moment. And dogs aren’t even allowed in the campus, so maybe he went to the store before coming…?

Jae lowers his backpack to take a proper glance to the guy. He doesn’t seem to have any shopping bags with him, but only a backpack like Jae.

“Are you okay?” he repeats with a shorter version of his last grin.

“Yeah” Jae nods. A fast nod. A fast answer. A fast blush coming with the realization of the first two.

The guy also nods.

Jae nods back.

The guy frowns. He doesn’t say anything else but gives Jae a quick smile before taking out his phone and start typing something on it. The guy is laughing almost immediately. And wrinkling his nose in annoyance and then laughing again.

(Jae doesn’t get the flow of the cycle—is he either talking to someone and having an argument but then quickly making it up? Or is he reading the comments of some post…?).

He remembers his words then: _it won’t happen if you keep staring_ , and Jae is very much aware he was talking about the time, but he can apply it too to how he won’t be able to see through the guy’s eyes to understand why is he reacting like that.

Jae guesses he could stop staring and do the same as he and use his phone as a distraction, so he finally decides to grab his own phone from the floor. The battery is almost dying and Jae makes a grimace when he remembers that.

It marks nine twenty. Only forty minutes before Sungjin returns. _Exactly_ forty minutes.

He opens some messages he didn’t answer earlier because he was studying. There are only two. One from Sungjin telling him about his date that Jae already knew about, and another one from Woosung from his administration class, asking about the project that they’re meant to deliver for the end of the semester.

A second giggle. Jae raises his eyes with the slightest movement, observing how the guy is now typing furiously something. It must be a long message considering the amount of time he spends on it before returning to the wrinkle of his nose.

Jae checks his phone. Nine twenty-two. Eight percent of battery.

A _clink!_ echoes in the hall. Jae raises his eyes with the slightest movement (the same a second time). The guy must’ve gotten a new message. He’s typing furiously again.

Jae checks his phone. Still nine twenty-two. The red color in the battery icon makes him squeal.

He sinks in his place—how is he going to spend thirty-nine minutes with the guy there, giggling and wrinkling his nose at his phone and probably fighting with someone through text? In a few minutes he won’t even have his phone with him, so he’s _doomed_.

There’s this alternative of Jae doing something better than just pretending he isn’t paying attention to the guy’s gestures—like _talking_ to him. Starting a decent, normal conversation, following it until Sungjin arrives and then forget that everything that ever happened because that’s what normal people do when they have normal chats with strangers. The only problem is, of course, that Jae was the one who said the last thing between the too, and he doesn’t know what speaking again would mean for him. Would he seem desperate for that? Would that somehow work as a red sign to tell the guy that he was staring at him at first because Jae thinks he has bright eyes?

Jae checks his phone. Nine twenty-four. It turns off before he can send a quick message to Sungjin asking if he would really return at ten.

He looks up. The guy is giggling right now at his phone—cutely giggling even without a single dimple…

Oh God.

Jae just called him cute.

He’s absolutely _doomed_.

And that’s… That’s not normal at all! Normal Park Jaehyung is suddenly out of the normal zone because he just called a stranger cute and he keeps wondering what is making him laugh and what’s annoying him at the same time when he _shouldn’t_.

He shouldn’t be talking either, but he does because the realization of for once not being so plainly, brutally and horribly normal is enough to act as an impulse of bravery.

“Is it okay that you told me about your friend not having had a date in so long?”

The guy stops looking at his phone, glancing at Jae instead. He's frowning—not like he did before in a confused way, but more in a surprised one.

(And why _even_ surprised? Did he see something that interesting in his phone before Jae talked to him?)

He doesn’t stop frowning, “What?”

Jae feels his cheeks getting warmer. At least, that’s still a normal reaction because he’s definitely shot himself in the foot with that comment. 

“You said that before” he has no other choice but to continue. “That Dowoon—”

“Oh, yeah. I remember” the guy bops his head with a small beam. He isn’t frowning anymore or wrinkling his nose; only almost smiling to Jae, “I was just trying to have a topic to talk about. You were the one that mentioned dates.”

Jae is starting to think that he shouldn’t have talked at all again.

“So you told me about your friend…?”

“Instead of me, yes” the guy’s smile trembles and Jae squints at him because… Is he blushing? Jae guesses whatever he saw on his phone had a big impact on him like to cause that reaction even after some seconds, “Don’t ask me why ‘cause I don’t have an answer for that” he says. He passes a hand over his hair and the movement is enough for Jae to stop paying attention to his cheeks. “It’s been a bad day.”

Jae nods.

The guy doesn’t nod back. He simply returns to his phone. A quick gesture.

Jae glances at his own phone and sighs quietly. Sungjin usually calls him when he’s on his way to the campus from his dates, but not even Sungjin’s call would make it turn on.

That wouldn’t make Sungjin worried, right? He means yeah, maybe Sungjin was the one who suggested for Jae to buy that chain to have his keys always with him hanging around his neck, and he has told him once and twice and like ten times that when he forgets his keys he can just call him and that he’ll be there as soon as he can. But Jae hasn’t called him—he _never_ calls him; especially when he’s out in a date with Younghyun. And Sungjin hates it just as much as when Jae lost the extra copy that he asked for in the administration office.

He probably should call Sungjin, though. Not only because that would finally make his roommate pleased but because Jae can’t really handle all the nose wrinkles and the giggles and the bright eyes and he’s _blushing_ just by thinking on it.

But he has to ask for a favor to do it so. It shouldn’t be hard—the guy has his phone there with him and he isn’t typing anymore, which means that Jae won’t interrupt any type of conversation and that’s cool. Besides, a moment of an _awkward_ blushing would be better than lots of minutes of _awkward_ staring.

It makes sense for Jae in his head. A normal plan for a normal boy who wants to get out of a not-so normal situation.

“Hey” he calls for the guy, and in the second his bright eyes are over him part of Jae is actually considering in running away. He shily gestures towards the phone at his hand ( _SHILY_ like in capital letters, avoiding eye contact and everything. Jae is really that close of standing up and leaving for all the embarrassment), “Uh, your phone. Is it okay if I…?”

The guy looks at him for a second. Jae thinks he’s blushing again (Jae has the thought for the second time, not that the guy is actually blushing. He’s still unsure about that).

“Oh, sure” he hands him the phone. Jae has to move to take it from his hands, and now that he’s closer, he notices that the guy is actually blushing.

(And also, that his eyes are _really_ bright. Like really, really bright. And it doesn’t have anything to do with the awful yellow lights of the hall).

He focuses on the phone instead. The guy already had it ready to make a phone call. He probably didn’t want Jae to have the chance to peek on anything else—which is a normal and understandable thing.

Jae hasn’t finished typing Sungjin’s number when the guy speaks, earning his attention.

“You should first tell me your name at least” he says. And he’s maybe blushing again, but definitely smiling and Jae is squealing, “Because then you’ll have to save it as cute Dowoon’s neighbor and that would be a bit weird, wouldn’t it?”

Jae blinks, “Sorry?”

“When you save your number” the guy is doing that thing of moving his hair again while Jae is doing his now usual, cheeks warm and confusion installed in his head and surely in his expression, “You know, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna call you, right? We just met after all.”

Jae blinks a second time, “Sorry?”

“Yes, you’re cute, but I don’t know you, and you haven’t told me your name yet” the guy continues. “And oh, by the way, mine is Wonpil.”

Jae blinks a third time, “Sorry?”

The guy — _Wonpil_ —, frowns “Why are you acting like that if you were the one who suggested giving me his phone number?”

Jae blinks a fourth time.

That’s definitely not normal. Not normal an inch—it’s all so weird and strange and confusing and Jae’s a normal person who knows how to handle normal situations, not this. Because this isn’t a normal situation. _This is_ … Jae has no idea what _that_ is.

“I…” Jae scratches the back of his head, “Umh, I never said that” he feels the need to clarify. “I just wanted to call my roommate with your phone ‘cause mine is dead.”

Wonpil looks at him. And even if Jae would prefer to not do it, he finds himself returning the look.

“This is so embarrassing” Wonpil mutters. For an instant Jae is surprised of how easy he’s managing the whole mistake until he groans and covers his face with both of his hands, “I’m sorry. Go on” he says behind his palms, “call your roommate. I’m sorry.”

Jae does exactly that. It’s a short call. A fast one. Sungjin snorts when Jae explains he forgot to take the necklace with the key with him when he went to the library and promises he’ll be there in ten minutes or so.

(He doesn’t ask why is he calling him from a different number).

(Jae’s glad because of that).

When he finishes the call, Wonpil is still covering his face with his hands.

And Jae, being the normal, emphatic and kind of charmed person he is, suggests: “If you want to, I guess I can give you my number…?”

Wonpil nods without moving his hands from his face. Jae nods back even if he can’t see him and saves his number.

Definitely not normal at all.

“When we tell this story” Wonpil talks again behind his hands, "we’ll omit the part when I got things messed up, okay?”

Jae nods again. Wonpil can’t see him yet.

“I’m Jae.”

“I’m Wonpil.”

“You already said that.”

A groan, “Let’s also omit that part, please.”

Wonpil only stops covering his face once Jae returns him his phone. He’s blushing. And Jae’s almost sure of the reason of it considering that not much has happened recently.

Not much like Wonpil calling him cute, thinking that Jae wanted to give him his number and Jae actually giving him his number.

Yeah, not much.

Sungjin arrives ealiert than what Jae had imagined. He is complaining about Jae and his bad habit of forgetting his keys as soon as he’s walking down the hall. He doesn’t even stop when he sees Wonpil sitting in front of Jae, once again covering his face with his hands because Jae felt the need to point out that he had saved his number as Park Jaehyung because that’s his whole name and Jae is just how his friends call him.

It doesn’t surprise Jae that he can’t sleep when he finally enters to his dorm.

It doesn’t surprise him either that when he bumps into Wonpil the next morning, as they both leave their dorms, he’s quickly blushing. A very fast reaction accompanied with a very fast greeting and with a very fast answer from Wonpil blushing too.

It isn’t normal at all—not the way Jae now does his best to always make sure to carry his key with him because he wants to avoid having another encounter like that with Wonpil. Not how he eventually ends up receiving a message of Wonpil asking him if he can wait for Dowoon at his dorm because he did forget his key this time and Dowoon is working again that afternoon until late and he needs a place to go. It’s been almost a week since they met, and in those days Jae has discovered he’s not the only one with a problem with his dorm keys (even if for Wonpil’s case it’s more ‘the keys to his temporary dorm’; though Jae wonders if that also happens with his real dorm).

Jae types a fast answer to Wonpil’s message. He doesn’t know why but that’s definitely _not_ normal.

He promises he’s trying not to think on Wonpil.

He promises he’s _really_ trying.

Wonpil is already standing next to the door of his dorm when Jae is back from his classes. He isn’t looking at him in that moment but to his phone screen, typing furiously and giggling and wrinkling his nose; and then the cycle repeats and Jae still _doesn’t_ get it.

Jae’s _really_ trying.

“I’m sorry for this” Wonpil says when Jae is closer to him, forgetting his phone. Jae takes the silver chain with the key off of his neck, already used to Wonpil always apologizing when they see each other, “I know that this look like I’m trying so hard to ask you out, but I swear it’s not that! I’m always forgetting my stuff and I don't know anyone else here but Dowoon so I don't have anywhere else to go. I _swear_ it.”

The key falls from his hand.

Jae blinks, “Sorry?”

“It’s not like I don’t think you’re cute!” Wonpil adds, and Jae blinks again. He feels the need to comment out loud that another cycle is repeating itself, and he doesn’t like it at all because… _There_. Now he’s blushing (and Jae has come with terms to the fact that apparently, that kind of reaction around Wonpil is _normal,_ so yeah _—he’s blushing_ ), “’Cause I do and you’ve been kind and nice with me for accepting me in your dorm today and not hating me despite everything I've said to you! So please don’t confuse this with an early flirting because I’m usually not like this and I know how weird this can seem—”

Jae blinks a third time, “Sorry?”

But Wonpil keeps talking, trying to clarify everything, and Jae, as the normal person he is, only listens to him when he picks up the key from the floor, and he only listens at him when they’re into their dorm and gestures for Wonpil to put his things on his bed, and he only listens to him when Wonpil finally becomes quiet as he realizes what he’s just ask Jae at some point of their conversation.

When Sungjin is there ten minutes later as his faculty is further than Jae’s to the dorms building, Wonpil is covering his face with his hands like that night; only that this time he’s sitting over Jae’s bed, back pressed against the wall.

“Did you scare him again?” Sungjin asks. He doesn’t look worried at all because he knows that, in fact, Jae didn't scare Wonpil the first time they met and he's just joking.

Jae shakes his head, “I think he was asking me out but in a month.”

“Come again?”

“Two months” Wonpil whines behind his hands, “I said it usually takes me two months to ask someone out and that's why I'm not asking you out yet!”

Sungjin pretends to be surprised, “So, uh, you’re having a date in two months with the guy who’s temporarily staying with Dowoon because his dorm is flooded?”

Jae nods. A fast nod, a fast answer. Now apparently normal because it’s related to Wonpil, “I think so.”

Another whine, “This is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me, I swear. That piping line not only ruined my dorm, it also _ruined_ me.”

Jae feels the need of pointing out that actually, the problem with the piping line is nowhere related with Wonpil and his apparent habit of speaking with no filter. He doesn’t do it, though—he has a bigger problem for himself just by remembering how he just confirmed a date with _two_ whole months in advance with someone that he just met a week ago and who keeps saying sorry every time they see the other.

That's not normal; not normal an inch, not normal at all. 

But Jae guesses that's how things are with Wonpil. 

By that point Jae isn't trying anymore not to think on him. He can't avoid it. Not even when Wonpil's dorm problem is solved some days later and they don't bump into the other in the mornings and Wonpil's apologies move to the format of text and how they eventually start talking through messages in real conversations that only sometimes include the words 'I'm really so sorry! I promise I don't want to date you... Yet!!'. 

Jae promises he isn't trying anymore not to think on Wonpil.

He promises he _really_ isn't because it's just that easy to think on him. And that's... Well, that's not normal, but it's definitely as much normal as everything anormal that comes with Wonpil. 

Jae considers that when, two months later, he's facing the dilemma of which one of his multiple plaid shirts should he wear on his date. He takes the red one, and puts it over his chest as he glances to his reflection in the mirror. It's something that normal Park Jaehyung would wear on a normal day. He can't even remember how many times he has worn that one before.

_So_ normal.

Jae leaves it over his bed, along with the rest of the shirts he had taken out from his closet. He picks another thing after some seconds; one of the shirts he has barely used. 

It's not a normal choice for normal Park Jaehyung. And that, even if it's not related to Wonpil (the declared source of all the recent anormalities in Jae's life), it's completely fine.


End file.
